Alabama officer shot, killed sovereign citizen; video released

Robert Earl Lawrence said he found the dog wandering a Wal-Mart parking lot in Dothan in south Alabama. He put the canine in his car with his girlfriend and their three small children, each child under the age of 10. The family drove to the Dothan Animal Shelter.

There Lawrence was asked for his driver's license, he declined to show it. City employees said they couldn't accept a stray dog if he didn't show a license. He said they didn't have the right to require a license. He said he'd drop the dog elsewhere. They said he couldn't leave if he was going to dump the dog. He was stuck, grew agitated, walked outside.

A Dothan police officer stationed at the shelter followed him to his car and wouldn't let him leave without producing a license. A couple months earlier, according to his cousin, Lawrence had begun to read about sovereign citizens, an anti-government movement that often includes, among other things, complicated arguments against the constitutionality of driver's licenses. In short, Lawrence was ready to argue.